aubunique: Please fill out online survey of opinion of perfor...

aubunique: Please fill out online survey of opinion of perfor...: "Greetings Everyone! CAT Performance Survey 2010 As we reach the end of 2010, Community Access Television (CAT) requests the favor of yo..."

Cox Cable pulls surprise on city of Fayetteville, Arkansas, with plan to move public-access, government channel and educational channel to EXPENSIVE digital tier of channels: So much for open government when thousands of people will not be able to afford access to the public channels

Please click on image to ENLARGE view of Cox Cable advertisement in recent issue of The Northwest Arkansas Times.

For several years I have been able to turn away phone and online salesmen wanting me to take the satellite systems and later the Uverse TV system of AT&T.
But now Cox has set up a situation that will require me to drop their service and take the Uverse, which will automatically cut my cost because I have AT&T phone service already.
Cox has one thing the others don't have: The local public stations at minimal cost.
This is the time for the city administration to begin negotiating with COX. This is a draconian measure that will hurt COX in the long run.

Election-eve comment from David Whitaker, Northwest Arkansas' candidate to take seat in House of Representatives from 3rd congressional disctrict

Aubrey Shepherd quoted on UATV on October 20, 2010, on significance of demolition of old grain elevator in south Fayetteville, Arkansas

Highway Commission vote could end mowing and dredging practices that cause erosion, loss of wildlife habitat and decrease beauty of roadsides in Arkansas

Please click on image to ENLARGE. Two hours after this photo was made on October 12, 2010, this area had been brushogged into oblivion. Sure, the swamp milkweed will sprout from its roots next summer. But these plants not only held pods offering hundreds of milkweed seeds but also were feeding milkweed caterpillars that could have made chrysalises and become final 2010 generation monarchs traveling to Mexico and with a chance to return in spring and find fresh milkweed on which a new generation of monarchs could have been raised to keep the cycle of life intact for this seriously threatened species of migrating butterfly. If you want to talk to your Northwest Arkansas representative on the Highway Commission, he is Dick Trammel.

Monarch caterpillars were still eating the foliage of these swamp milkweeds and the seed pods were almost mature when the Arkansas Highway and Transportation Department Mowers came down the road and crushed and cut them off near the ground. Amazing hypocrisy for a state agency that touts its wildflower program. And possibly worse hypocrisy is touting its stormwater-protection work and then mowing and dredging ditches repeatedly every year.

Please click on individual images to ENLARGE view.

To learn more about the Arkansas Highway Commission,  please see AHC  link.

aubunique: Insect Festival coming up

aubunique: Insect Festival coming up: "Please use live links on site to navigate and read more detail. Bumpers College Home Entomology Home O..."

aubunique: Tree and Landscape Committee sets annual city tree...

aubunique: Tree and Landscape Committee sets annual city tree...: "12th Annual Celebration of TreesSaturday October 9, 2010 7:00 am Town Center entrance on the Fayetteville SquareEvery year the Tree and Lan..."

Fayetteville's proposed 2030 plan to be be shared for public comment and discussion October 7 and 15

TO THE LAND USE PLANNING AND GREEN INFRASTRUCTURE COMMITTEE  OF FFEAC----

PLEASE TAKE THE TIME TO REVIEW AND COMMENT ON THE UPCOMING 2030 PLAN  http://www.accessfayetteville.org/government/strategic_planning/projects/City_Plan_2030_.cfm

MEETINGS:  OCTOBER 7   6:00-7:30pm  Bank of Fayetteville on Square

or    OCTOBER 15    9:30 -11:00am at the  Fayetteville Public Library

Questions:  Call Strategic Plannning 575-8268

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ALSO !    Please be aware and comment on: 

http://www.nwarpc.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=100&Itemid=131

The Northwest Arkansas Western Beltway Feasibility Study will examine the feasibility of providing a new north-south highway west of I-540 in Washington and Benton Counties.

Previous transportation studies indicated the need to study a potential north-south route that parallels I-540 and could; afford additional traffic capacity, relieve I-540 congestion, improve service to the Northwest Arkansas Regional Airport, provide more efficient routing for trucks and provide a major roadway corridor to serve land use changes occurring in the western regions of the two counties.

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ALSO !   Help please.  There will be a Fayetteville Forward Economic Accountability Council  working session from 9-noon on Saturday morning Oct. 2, Room 111 in City Hall. 

I have a family gathering to attend that day and will be unable to go to this session.  If there is anyone who would like to attend this meeting and see what the FFEAC is 

trying to do to organize how the council will function in the future, please call me at 442-5307  or my cell 530-8510.   Thanks!    Fran

NWAOnline.com

City Looking To Future

FAYETTEVILLE RESIDENTS, OFFICIALS BEGIN PLANNING FOR 2030

Monday, September 27, 2010

FAYETTEVILLE — The city of Fayetteville is updating its comprehensive land use plan, giving residents several chances to say how they want their city to look in 20 years.

“It affects decisions that are made by staff and elected and appointed officials regarding growth and development,” said Karen Minkle, director of strategic planning and internal consulting for the city. “It’s critical, especially in an area that’s one of the fastest growing in the country.”

The city will launch a series of public sessions in October designed to update what’s been known as City Plan 2025. More than 800 people participated in drafting the city’s current plan. With the update, it will become known as City Plan 2030.

There will be several opportunities to provide input, including two public meetings, a webinar and online input on the city’s website.

Mayor Lioneld Jordan said longterm planning allows citizens to have a say in balancing growth with other issues.

“The thing is you want to preserve the quality of life of the city without, say, just coming in and bulldozing down every tree,” Jordan said. “You’ve got to preserve that landscape while you allow growth as well. That’s where the balance comes in.”

Plan 2025 was successful, Minkle said. Developers use the document as a guideline when planning their projects and regularly reference it when arguing their cases for approval before the Planning Commission and City Council.

The document also spawned several development and land use ordinances, such as curb cut regulations and regulations about how street cross-sections are designed in the city, Minkle said.

City Plan 2025 called for the city to discourage sprawl and make infill and revitalization the highest priorities. What changes are made to create Plan 2030 remain to be seen.

“I think it’s an update that will reflect, partly, what’s on the community’s mind, what do they feel is important, things we’ve seen over the past five years we think needs to be clarified just to eliminate confusion and to help with the decisionmaking process,” Minkle said. “Then, of course, we’re getting public input so we’re open to a lot of new ideas and there may be things out there that we haven’t thought about yet that we’d be happy to include.”

Planning Commissioner Tracy Hoskins said a comprehensive land-use plan allows the city to use form-based zoning as opposed to fearbased zoning.

“I think City Plan 2030 is an opportunity for us to look back and see the elements of the 2025 Plan that worked and the elements that didn’t work so good, or the things that need to be adjusted that make those elements work,” Hoskins said.

Hoskins added other city ordinances and regulations need to be reviewed and possibly modified as well to make sure they are not at odds with a Plan 2030 philosophy.

Ward 3 Alderman Bobby Ferrell said the city needs to look at its long-range strategic plans regularly.

“We need to figure our course, so in that respect it’s better to have a plan for where we want to go and what we want to do,” Ferrell said. “But, a vitally important thing to remember is that the master street plan, the 2025 Plan, soon to be 2030 Plan, these are all, capital letters, tools for the consideration of the council.”

Ferrell said the plan is one factor of many that the city should use in making city growth decisions, including comments from staff and citizens and the planning commission.

Green-infrastructure meeting to see final Green Infrastructure Network Map at 6 p.m. Wednesday, October 6, 2010

Green-infrastructure planning recently featured on KUAF radio at this link.
www.kuaf.org/ozarksatlarge/showfeed

Greetings from the Green Infrastructure Planning Executive Group,

We have finished our Green Infrastructure Network Map and filed our final report; come see how the plan turned out and what your contribution has helped create. 

We'll look at how the Green Infrastructure Network Map can assist in the planning process.  We’ll talk about what how we can accomplish what we all would like to see happen in the future.  There is a homespun analogy for the many implementation possibilities that are out there and the flexible approach that serves well for assembling the best means to complete a project - it’s called an “implementation quilt”.  We’ll talk about some of the choices we have for assembling the patchwork of tools that can be applied to many types of projects.

Join us on Wednesday, October 6, 2010 at the Pat Walker Center for Seniors on the Washington Regional Hospital campus.

Time:  6:00 - 8:00pm             

              6:00 - 6:30 showing of our gorgeous new informative video, ”Green Infrastructure in our Communities”

              6:30 - 7:30 slide presentation

              7:30 - 8:00 Reception and view the final maps

 Location:  Pat Walker Center for Seniors
               12 E Appleby Road, Fayetteville
               map:http://www.wregional.com/documents/wr%20and%20pat%20walker%20map.pdf
 On behalf of Fayetteville Natural Heritage Association, Arkansas Forestry Commission and Beaver Water District we hope to see you and your guest there.

Barbara

 
 
PS:  Recently NPR's "Ozarks At Large" aired an interview of Patti Erwin, Barbara Boland, and Chris Wilson talking about our Green Infrastructure Project.
Hear it online here: http://www.kuaf.org/ozarksatlarge/showfeed   Green Infrastructure Planning is the first item on the September 9th show.


Barbara Elaine Boland
Green Infrastructure Planning
Project Co-ordinator, GIS technician, and Cartographer
Fayetteville Natural Heritage Association
148 E Spring Street
Fayetteville, AR 72701
(479) 521-2801 homebarbaraboland@hotmail.com
 
"Green Infrastructure is our nation's life support system - an interconnected network of waterways, wetlands, woodlands, wildlife habitats, and other natural areas; greenways, parks and other conservation lands; working farms, ranches and forests; and wilderness and other open spaces that support native species, maintain natural ecological processes, sustain air and water resources and contribute to the health and quality of life for America's communities and people." USDA Forest Service, Green Infrastructure Working Group's definition of Green Infrastructure.

Bob Caulk shares message from Jacqueline Froelich about FNHA's green-infrastructure program on KUAF

From: Jacqueline Froelich 

Date: Wed, 8 Sep 2010 15:08:10 -0500

Bob, Patti, Barbara and Chris:

My report on your Green Infrastructure Planning Project will air 
tomorrow, September 9th at noon on Ozarks at Large our daily news 
hour on 91.3fm, repeated at 7pm.

We also post the show on our website, so expect to see it 
by 3pm. Go to KUAF.com and scroll down to the Ozarks at Large section 
and click on the show, you should see the entire news hour and the 
individual segment as well.

Or just click directly on the audio archive here: 
http://www.kuaf.org/ozarksatlarge

Also you can download the free podcast: http:// 
www.kuaf.org/ozarksatlarge/showfeed

Thanks so much for meeting with me!

Bob I will leave the binder in an envelope at our front desk lobby 
for you to pick up. The DVDs are in there. One was corrupted? But I 
watched the other. Wonderful film, very nicely done.




Jacqueline Froelich
News Producer & Station-Based National Correspondent
National Public Radio KUAF 91.3FM
9 S. School
1 University of Arkansas
Fayetteville, Arkansas 72701-1201
479-575-6408
www.ozarksatlarge.com
www.kuaf.com